Twenty-nine-year-old Cyntoia Brown has been locked up in a Tennessee prison for 13 years, after she was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery in the killing of a man who hired her as a prostitute when she was 16.

At trial, Brown’s lawyers argued she was a runaway who was raped, abused and forced into prostitution by a man known as “Kut Throat.” She will be eligible for parole after she turns 69.

I saw her documentary on her a few years ago and was astounded. The documentary was on YouTube. Before reading further, I suggest you view it.

I know you may be thinking this deviates from my topic of influence this month, but I assure you it doesn’t. Influence is only as potent or insidious as those who wield it. The more I looked at this story (before Kim Kardashian sent her lawyer after it), the more my heart grieved for her.

“Kut Throat” used his adult influence on a then 16 year old girl to force her into prostitution. In new millieun terms we would call this sex trafficking. He sold a 16-year-old girlfor sex to the highest bidder. He put a child in an adult position by sheer force of will–ergo ill influence.

After she was violated by all these paying monsters, “Kut Throat” took her to his home to have sex with her. When she thought she was reaching for a gun, she shot and killed him. She took his guns and whatever money he had and ran.

Now, should she have killed him?

Probably not.

Was he going to let her go?

Probably not.

The dirty fact is this: she did what she had to in order to live. However, this nation likes its black girls docile or ratchet. Controllable and predictable.

The silent, suffering mammy.

The incredible thing? She now wants to use all that has happened to her to help everyone whom will listen. She wants to tell what happened to her so that the same trick that trapped her will not ensnare someone else.

Now, the third tier of this influence is the legal system–a system never designed to benefit or serve women, people of color or immigrants or the poor–God help you if you intersect any of these.

The legal system saw Cyntoia Brown like many of us see feral cats: Something for someone else to deal with and when dealing with them, do so harshly so there will be no others like those. The legal system decided her life was inconsequential and irredeemable in the face of all that had happened to her, so they decided to throw her away. The influence, the power and sway of the rule of law, let those in power do as the mob wished with her.

There has been new effort for her release and I am overjoyed. She deserves a chance at life and to impart and yes, to live. If all you own in this life is you, then whom are other folk to tell you whom you are or the limits of what you can become?

Wind’s gift to us is movement. On days like today with sustained wind speeds between 20- 30mph and gusts of 50mph, its will to remain in motion is taking with it all that isn’t held down or onto. Its willpower is blowing wild and free over the open land. Add to that a 20-degree temperature and the attitudes of folks drop swiftly into negative territory on their gusts of disgust. They fret and fuss over the slightest exposure to the wind’s elemental power to create sacred motion.

Nature adapts and flows with the windy weather. Birds are staying perched in the cover of Spruce trees and my horses are assuming the sturdy, butt to the wind, position. I like the raw edge of a strong wind. It commands a keen awareness of body and mind. We don’t pay much attention to air until we feel it like when our breath is restricted by a cold or illness. Wind’s Spirit forces us to feel what goes unseen and unnoticed. The air is showing itself today and people are taking notice.

Our movement too can be blustery, messing up our tidy plans. Forced action like a wild wind can tangle, tatter and tear. Sometimes there’s no stopping where we are going. We have to let the Spirit of the wind carry us—surrender—to freedom’s rough and tumble ride. If we can do that we are carried to our destination.

To make it through the next wind advisory, hold onto your hat and your heart. Wait-a-day or two, the winds of change will change, everything in sacred motion, even the wind.

In curious explorations, the midnight hour is a time of perceived stillness. The wee hours provide a depth of soul to awaken in the walk of the shadows and realize in the dark hours what grows in opportunities that will shortly birth into the light. It is not a time of stillness, but one of great activity.

The walk is a listening of what is growing.
The listening hears the movement of flowing.
The movement is subtle evolving knowing.

It is a great and wonderful darkness to walk with as a part of the silent creations stirring.
In the wee hours.

A post shared by Trisha Brown Dance Company (@trishabrowncompany) on Dec 11, 2017 at 5:13pm PST

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Wed, 13 Dec 2017 00:37:10 +0000Roxy Bentsen Faulknerhttps://theoilyguru.org/go/conspiracy-theories/u-s-charter-schools-tied-to-controversial-turkish-cleric/Current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rise to power has all the elements of a thrilling political drama: a successful coup orchestrated by dissidents within the police and government bureaucracy; an enthusiastic citizenry taking to the streets and a reclusive religious leader enraging the party in power from afar. Sexy stuff, indeed!

And somehow, this Turkish intrigue has ties to, of all things, the United States charter school system. That’s right. Surprised? So where Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know hosts Noel Brown and Ben Bowlin. That’s why they invited the show’s intern Sam Teegardin to sit in and explain his experience attending one of these schools with ties to what’s called The Gulen Movement.

So back to Erdogan. He came to power in Turkey in 2010, helped along by a moderate U.S.-based Islamic cleric named Fethullah Gulen living in exile in Pennsylvania. The movement, known in Turkey as “Hizmet” or service, runs schools and businesses around the world, including 120 charter schools in the United States that focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculums. It’s a tolerant Islamic movement that preaches values like education, interfaith dialogue, hard work and modesty as its highest principles.

The Gulen Movement is considered by many a civil movement, not a political party, but Gulen and Erdogan’s AKP political party were once natural allies: They both wanted Islamic values represented in the government. Gulen followers helped bring down 300 military personnel by implicating them in an attempted 2003 coup, helping Erdogan grab even more power. But Gulen immediately began to vie for control of the state.

Followers of the Gulen Movement published an expose of corruption within Erdogan’s government, threatening his position with another failed coup, but instead of fighting the bribery charges leveled against him, Erdogan claimed it was a treasonous plot to seize power by the Gulenists. Erdogan exhorted the citizens to take to the streets in support of his government, and they did.

An ongoing purge suppressed Gulen-affiliated institutions, newspapers, businesses and schools, and all suspected Gulen followers were forced out of their jobs, effectively squashing all the influence the civil movement had gained. The charges against Erdogan were dropped, and he has more power than ever.

But the Gulen Movement is not dead: It has an estimated 1 to 8 million followers worldwide. As mentioned earlier, the 120 U.S. charter schools run by the Gulen Movement focus on math, science and appreciation for Turkish culture, and even provide trips to Turkey for the students. It offers free education to the poor, promotes charity and good works, and in Western countries like the United States, Germany and France teachers stress no religion in the classroom.

On its face, everything seems on the up-and-up. But there is trouble behind the façade: Even in locations where teacher unemployment is high, Gulen schools pay to bring teachers over from Turkey; Gulen-affiliated contractors are awarded high-dollar jobs; and teachers are forced to kick back part of their salaries to the movement. These shady financials are a real concern, since charter schools get millions of dollars of taxpayer money to operate.

The movement also has been called cult-like. Its vast web of followers loyal to the cause — even graduates of its schools — have been known to infiltrate civil bureaucracies and operate businesses, furthering the Gulenists’ reach.

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Tue, 12 Dec 2017 22:00:32 +0000jackpokojhttps://jackbellesphotographyblog.wordpress.com/go/photography/island-life/Living in a rural location on a small island can present challenges to creating interesting photography! There are however plenty of opportunities and here are some of my ideas:

There are usually some iconic buildings and the key is to find an alternative viewpoint. This is the Bell Tower in Dumaguete and I chose a sunny day and an angle from which to shoot which included blue sky and green vegetation to contrast with the grey building.

Local transport can provide a unique inside into local life. Pedicabs are typical of this area and I just had to find the right spot and wait for a few to line up for this shot.

The sea is all around and provides some great colours. You just need to find an interesting foreground subject and the right time of day to show off the most vibrant colours! This is the Sandbar in Bais and has the best colours when there is some water covering the sand.

There are plenty of interesting landscapes. I used a rice field to provide foreground interest as well as different shades of green to contrast with the mountains, sky and clouds.

Tanjay

Of course landscapes are best taken during the golden hour around sunrise and sunset. Here the colours make for a more interesting picture of a pretty white building. These colours only lasted behind the building for about 10 minutes so you have to be there at the right time and be quick with your composition!

Tierra Alta Dumaguete

You can also look out for interesting activity in the rural area. It helps to have your camera with you to take advantage of any opportunities that present themselves to you!

You can sometimes find a mixture of modern and rural life in one place!

Happy hunting!

]]>https://afishonahill.com/go/fishy-thoughts/remembering/
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 21:40:44 +0000talking4goodhttps://afishonahill.com/go/fishy-thoughts/remembering/Remembering just there, as the muscles move, stretch and contract, the intention of running. It’s not a goal, neither an objective. It is not about running 10km or 20km, running in less than 30 minutes or 60. It is an intention in the movement itself, a movement which goes somewhere, with a determination that gives it purpose. And suddenly running becomes more than a movement, it becomes an emotion, a movement into an evolution.
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Tue, 12 Dec 2017 21:24:56 +0000ramblebeehttps://moonmarvel.com/go/uncategorized/on-walking-and-flow-states/I went for a walk recently at my parents place, with my mother and my sibling. Both laugh, nicely, at my exploration of movement practice. Interestingly, they are fairly progressive in many ways, but despite my encouragement to try dance, or yoga, or even meditation as a form of raising awareness and consciousness, they remain dubious.

My mother lives in an absolutely stunning corner of the world. There are birds abundant, the occasional kangaroo, a creek, trees everywhere and such a diversity of other flora and fauna. In short, it is the perfect place for opening, embracing and moving with awareness.

When we walked together, I found myself moving my arms about with flow and with ease. I found my own authentic walk, which came easily and freely, was not at all forced. It felt familiar and warm. I didn’t really realize what exactly I was doing, until my mother began to imitate me, and my sibling laughed.

It came to make me realize just how homogenous our walking has become. As one sits on the street and looks around at how people walk, they will observe small differences in gate and posture, pace, feet turn-out, etc. However, more or less, the arms remain by the body; walking is not seen as a canvas for expression.

I’ve often imagined, and when I walking I imagined again, what would the world look like if people embraced their flow state – fuelled by creativity and freedom in movement – when they were walking? Of course, it would not be entirely practical: sometimes walking needs to be completed as quickly as possible to travel from one place to another. But we do walk, often, when we do not need to be somewhere. Nonetheless, our walking has become quite homogenous. By focusing on walking, with awareness, it can become an entirely meditative process. It can become a means of free expression. It can become a dance.

The 2017 word of the year, according to Merriam-Webster, is feminism — and looking back at some of the news this year, it only makes sense.

According to the makers of the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word of the year is chosen if it’s looked up in high volumes on the dictionary’s website and shows significant year-over-year increase in inquiries. Merriam-Webster defines feminism as “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes,” as well as “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”

Women leaders also exemplified the concept in Congress. When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell uttered the words, “Nevertheless, she persisted,” about Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s persistent objection to the confirmation of now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the phrase became a rallying cry for women who have been shut down, ignored, or silenced for voicing their opinions. Rep. Maxine Waters became an icon of the movement not only for her staunch opposition to Trump, but especially for her brandishing of congressional procedure that she was “reclaiming my time,” as she confronted Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin for seemingly stalling during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in July.

Words like Kimberlé Crenshaw’s “intersectionality” found new audiences among a new generation introduced to feminism, who were concerned with the movement being inclusive of all types of women, across races, gender expressions, classes, religions, and other identities.

Other top words this year include concepts that have characterized many people’s views of the Trump administration, including “complicit” and “recuse.” “Dotard” spiked after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly made that insult toward Trump; the astronomy term “syzygy” spiked with the full solar eclipse in August; and “gaffe” got a lot of look-ups after the Academy Award for Best Picture was incorrectly presented to La La Land instead of Moonlight.

Feminism, though, falls well in line with other top American English words of the year previously declared by Merriam-Webster. Like the past five words (“socialism” and “capitalism” in 2012, “science” in 2013, “culture” in 2014, “-ism” in 2015, and “surreal” in 2016), feminism speaks to broader themes of discussion throughout the year, as Americans think about our economic systems, war, religious institutions, our changing environment, unresolved social injustice, and growing political discord.

“Feminism,” like the words that came before it, signals a national grappling with the concepts and institutions we sometimes take for granted until we’re forced to examine their complexities. And if the current news is any indication, interest in feminism likely won’t die down in 2018.

Children are not meant to sit still. Movement is vital to their development. By engaging in physical activity, their muscles and senses develop, and as those send messages to the brain, that develops too. Children discover and make sense of the world through activity. It actually helps their brain to grow! Montessori acknowledges this connection between the brain, the senses, and the muscles, and considers movement an essential part of learning.

In a Montessori classroom, children are free to move about. Their learning is an active experience. When children make ten trips back and forth to bring the Pink Tower cubes to their work space, they are not doing so because it keeps them “busy”. They are building the muscle memory of the concept of “ten” through movement. Physically carrying ten objects, or making ten trips, is much more effective than counting alone. It makes an impression and becomes an experience they can recall. (You could take this idea home and practice counting stairs each time you go up or down them together.) By adding movement, or a physical component to a lesson, children learn a concept with their mind and their whole body.

In addition to making mental connections, movement strengthens motor skills. There are two main types of motor skills children develop–fine motor and gross motor.

Gross motor skills deal with the large muscle groups and are responsible for activities like running, walking, climbing, etc. In the classroom, or at home, these are strengthened when a young child moves around their space freely, carries something, climbs, uses the steps, lifts and pours, cleans up, or paints at an easel (working on a vertical surface is so good for them). Gross motor skills create coordination and eventually allow for certain life skills like developing balance, learning to swim, ride a bike, or enjoy athletics.

Fine motor skills are those that coordinate the small muscles in the hands. Fine motor skills are required for writing, eating with utensils, shoe-tying, buttoning, zipping, etc. Young children benefit greatly from activities that strengthen their hands. Allowing opportunities for grasping various sized objects, offering puzzles with little knobs on them, and practice opening and closing containers are all easy ways to give their hands some work.

The Practical Life activities in any Montessori classroom always involve spoons, tweezers, tongs, pouring, beading, and lacing activities. All of these are intended to help strengthen the hands, as well as their ability to concentrate on a task. Many of the Practical Life materials are based on activities from the home, specifically the kitchen. When you take a look at the shelves you’ll see it’s possible to give your child some fine and gross motor practice with items you already have at home. A few bowls, small cups, a muffin tin or ice cube tray and you have plenty to work with. I am always happy to give ideas for ways to work on motor skills or create learning materials easily at home . Have fun with it, Jen

“What the hand does, the mind remembers.” – Montessori

]]>https://earthycrunchyfibers.wordpress.com/go/lifestyle/buying-local-and-sustainable/
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:00:27 +0000earthycrunchyfibershttps://earthycrunchyfibers.wordpress.com/go/lifestyle/buying-local-and-sustainable/One of the largest driving forces of my work is my values. Over the years, as I have been introduced to the tiny living movement, the minimalist movement, the slow fashion movement, and various other movements, I have been forced to reconsider my own lifestyle and choices. It hasn’t always been easy, as someone who was paying their way through college and now has loans to pay off as well, but I can say that it has been worth it.

Of course, there is a lot to discuss when it comes to these topics, so I’ll try to break it down into parts.

The overarching theme of these movements is that its not the amount of things you have, its the quality of them. Its the idea that its better to have one well crafted shoe that can be taken care of and will last a while and look nice than a bunch of shoes that wear out quickly and don’t do the job as well. Minimalism isn’t just about not having too much stuff – its about not holding on to stuff that you don’t use, and not buying things that you don’t need. Its about having just enough in your life to keep you comfortable and happy, and that changes from person to person.

Slow fashion is another topic which encourages the consumer to put thought into their purchasing habits. Rather than having a closet full of garments that are either not functional or in the current fashion trend, the slow fashion movement urges us to consider how much we’ll wear an item and then consider if it is worth purchasing or keeping. If one item that we enjoy wearing can take the place of five other items, shouldn’t it? Additionally, slow fashion encourages the purchase of items that were made slowly, by hand. Hand sewn jeans instead of store bought, hand knit sweaters instead of mass produced ones. By using objects that were created by hand, they have a better life expectancy than something that was produced quickly and by machine.

All of this, of course, leads into why it is important to support small businesses and local artists. In addition to supporting your local economy, which provides jobs for people in your community and supports everyone involved in the business instead of just CEOs, you’re also getting a service or product that is of higher quality and much more one of a kind and tailored to suit your needs. If your life is going to include things that bring you joy, its important to invest in those things. One-if-a-kind, quality items can be a way to do that.

In addition to the benefits of having fewer items to care for, spending less money on updating things that break and wear out, and having more interesting, one-of-a-kind items in your home, the other factor that benefits is the environment. Buying sustainable means that less waste will be going into landfills. Buying local means that energy isn’t wasted transporting an object to you that could have been sourced closer. Being conscious of your buying choices means, although the up front costs may be a bit higher, overall more money stays in your pocket. The throw-away culture that has been developed in the US is highly damaging to the environment, and if we all did our part we could help to save the earth.

Its true when people say that you vote with your money. I’m trying my best to vote locally, sustainably, and logically. It isn’t always the easiest thing to do, and its something that I’m still working on doing better even after years of putting effort into it, but in the end, the little changes add up and I wouldn’t change any of it.

Since this is an important topic, I’d like to follow up on my last post and get more into the “female question” with somewhat more seriousness and reflection.

Certainly, women have a place within racial nationalism. It’s their race too. But some points to ponder:

1. We can debate whether or not to accept reformed mudsharks (*) but certainly CURRENT mudsharks should be anathema. Why should we even have to debate something so basic?

2. Women need to be held to the same standards as men with respect to handling the “rough and tumble” world of dissident politics. We’ve all been insulted. I certainly have been over the years (often in vulgar terms – remember Silver?), including being insulted by Johnson himself (questioning my sanity). Certainly, there have been ethnic-based insults. Whatever. Johnson has been viciously attacked himself over his personal life. Anyone of any prominence in the “movement” – even a lower-level person like myself – has been subjected to harsh criticism. Deal with it ladies, or move on. Don’t expect to be pampered- in the “movement” zoo, it’s not going to happen, the chimps are going to be flinging their turds around on a regular basis.

3. If I’m going to eschew male Alt Lighters and other nitwits, I’ll do the same for females as well.

Look, it’s a question of character; the basic problem with Der Movement, Inc. – besides the fossilized dogma – is a question of character. There’s too much emphasis on quantity over quality, too much eagerness to accept anyone, any validation, any sign of acceptance, no matter how flawed and tainted. I don’t care if a race-mixing female posing as some sort of nationalist has “hundreds of thousands of followers.” If the person in question is of flawed character, then that’s just multiplication of the flaw. That’s adding zeroes to an already corrupted number.

If that’s “misogyny” then so be it.

*The white-knighting riposte here would be: “what about Spencer, Anglin, and Enoch” (or some other male activist with a history of dating/marrying, say, Asians or Jews)? Three points. First, those are your heroes, not mine. As far as I’m concerned the entire “movement” should be flushed down the toilet. Second, why leave out Derbyshire? He considers himself Alt Right, and as part of the VDARE crew, is dipping into “movement” largess. Why does Derbyshire always get a free pass? Third, like it or not, female miscegenation is more damaging since women are the bottlenecks for reproduction. But, yes, I don’t excuse males who mix, but, fine, we can have an amnesty for the past. This still doesn’t excise CURRENT miscegenation.

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Tue, 12 Dec 2017 05:50:26 +0000Starting Line Fitnesshttps://sensiblehealthandfitness.wordpress.com/go/uncategorized/1027/I’ve been talking about the holiday season a lot over the past couple of weeks. For good reason. With all the social, professional and family events that get scheduled things can get super stressful. It’s when things get super stressful that health and fitness go by the wayside.

This doesn’t have to be the case.

Before I tell you how to make sure you’re not in this situation, let’s talk about why it works out this way. Us (modern day) humans are kind of strange in that we err toward complicated solutions for simple problems. We’ve forgotten about Occam’s Razor (the simplest solution is the usually the best; shoutout to Google for the spelling of “Occam”).

I’ve often heard people say “I’ve got to work out more because I’ve got all these parties to go to”. I’m all for people working out more but this doesn’t make any sense. The parties are already taking up more time/energy and you want to combat this by demanding more time/energy of your body. Again it doesn’t make any sense.

So what to do? First thing is just make sure you’re doing enough. If you’ve been going to the gym twice/week, make sure you keep going twice a week. This may mean rescheduling gym appointments (by the way, the gym should be a scheduled appointment) or finding different ways to get workouts in outside the gym.

The second thing I’ll suggest is shortening your workout. Stick with me here. You’re going to shorten the workout but you’re going to do more. Just saying you’re only going to be in the gym for 30 minutes versus your normal hour is going to make your workout more efficient.

(Let’s be honest, most of us spend way too much time standing around/talking to people and not working out during our workouts.)

Shorter workouts tend to be more intense workouts. This means you can get more bang for your buck and still make it to the all the parties.

I’ve put together a 4 workout plan that you can use to hit all the major body parts. To get this free workout plan all you have to click this link. Fill out the form and then the workout plan will be delivered to your inbox.

You get your workouts in and you still get to party. Best of both worlds.

Sign up for my newsletter here. It’s two emails a week: the blog delivered directly to your inbox and another message filled with articles, recipes, videos and whatever else I think you’ll find fun and useful.

If you found this article to be useful share it with your friends on your social media sites. While you’re doing that you can connect with me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

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Tue, 12 Dec 2017 05:29:32 +0000thewallpaperladyhttps://wallpaperlady.wordpress.com/go/uncategorized/consider-using-a-muted-wallpaper-pattern-instead-of-a-textured-wall-covering/
Many people these days are wanting textured wallpapers. But one problem with textured materials is that, once you step away from them, you no longer see the texture.

Today I hung this small wallpaper pattern in a muted, 2-color scheme. I thought to myself, “Here we have the effect of texture, warmth, movement, and depth – and you CAN see it from across the room.”

The next time a client bring up the idea of a textured paper, I’m going to suggest a small pattern, similar to this one.

Lingering, hanging in the air, with an immense cloud of tension surrounding one small phrase. A phrase often pushed, into the darkest pits of our stomachs, ignored as if it never even happened. On October 5, 2017 New York Times blasts film producer, Harvey Weinstein, in article Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades, exposing the truth of three decades worth of harassment cases, which were never reported in fear of loss of future jobs for the actresses. Promises of promotions and positions in his films, Mr. Weinstein would ask women for private meetings which often included requests of massages, naked shows, and even sexual favors. The oldest scenario in this case involves an actress, Ashley Judd, who was requested into Harvey’s hotel room. Upon entering the room she found the producer in his bathrobe. Harvey, in the inappropriate attire, requested Judd to let him give her a massage and watch him shower. Another instance in 2014, Weinstein invited another woman that was working for him into his hotel. Emily Nestor, entered the room and was requested sexual favors in exchange for a promotional job upgrade. The accusations do not end here. They have apparently been happening for more years than originally expected. Events apparently leaving women who worked for the Weinstein corporation and in Weinstein’s movies distraught and deeply affected. Many other women have accused Weinstein of rape, non consensual sex. This leaves many to question, what took so long for the company and the women to come forward and express the problem? Was the company, or Harvey Weinstein himself covering the cases up? Why was nothing done earlier to prevent more women from getting affected?

Sexual harassment is defined as including offensive behavior, persistence of unwanted sexual advances were the consequences of refusal are potentially very disadvantages to the possible victim (students). This could include some unwelcome words, deeds, actions, gestures, symbols, or behavior of a sexual nature to make the victim feel uncomfortable. This would also include gender or sexual orientation harassment. Sexual harassment is found quite commonplace on any street, in any establishment, and many times in a lot of homes. It is seen as common place, and most women are told to ignore it, as if it would disappear as quickly as girls develop into women. Different from sexual harassment is sexual assault which is; sexual act where a person is physically forced to engage against their will, or non-consensual sexual touching of a person. The includes sexual violence- rape (vaginal, oral, or anal penetration or drug facilitated sexual assault), groping, child sexual abuse, or torture in a nonconsensual sexual manner. Many people may not know what is included in the sexual assault category, when they read an article about someone who committed sexual assault. Unknown to many, it accompanies a lot of aspects, which may be why so many brush sexual assault to the side, not knowing that it includes rape and other serious violation of human rights.

Im most, or all of the cases in Hollywood it is cases of director, producers or other jobs with a high amount of power attacking those lower than them on the totem pole. In Emily Nestor’s case she worked for the Weinstein company and was forcibly asked for favors at the risk of her job. Her “reward” for agreeing would be a promotion. This is an abuse of power on Weinstein’s side. Which is against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the guidelines of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Legal). The act and guidelines are in place to prevents acts of sexual discrimination, sexual harassment to a person at the workplace including acception or rejection of the acts leading to employment decisions. Weinstein is not the only one who has broken this law and guidelines, and it is not even just in the Hollywood scene. People use their power all over the world to take advantage of their workers, or possible workers. Politics and their sexual assault and harassment scandals are not uncommon. But is the world doing enough to raise awareness about this problem?

When entering college at Ball State you are required to do an activity which explains the dangers of sexual assault and harassment, but not all colleges are required to do this. Also what about the people who do not attend college? I assume the government and school systems believe that the little people learn in high school is enough to fully inform about sexual assault and harassment. In other countries some don’t even go to school. It is curious why we teach so little about an epidemic that has always been around; in the news, to celebrities, and even in families. More needs to be done to prevent people from thinking that they can take advantage of other people. And victims need to be encouraged to stand up as survivors, against sexual violence. Both men and women should stand to raise awareness of the problem. Every injustice and epidemic started with people ignoring it, in hopes that it would go away, but the problem only worsened, until enough awareness is raised. With women’s rights, they were pushed down and ignored even by other women who were unaware of the problem, or simply ignored it. Many times it is the teaching of someone that is off. Some attackers grow up thinking it is okay to harass someone, and in some twisted cases that were sexually assaulted or harasses, which made them think it was okay to do it to other people. With enough persistence to end the injustice and raise the crucial awareness, a change can be made.

I suggest high schools, and colleges, and the workplace be required to teach between right and wrong when it comes to sexual violence. I also believe that it is increasingly imperative to encourage survivors to come forward and expose their attacker. With more focus and attention pointed to sexual assault, hopefully the justice system of the government in America could actually bring justice to the perpetrators.

A common counter argument for blasting predators who have commited forms of sexual assault and harassment is that, once it is public it risks that person’s personal life and career. Once the Weinstein scandal came to light he dropped many movie projects and was even fired from the company him and his brother founded. This is an incredibly devastating blow to Harvey’s award winning career as a film producer. Harvey has won 5 awards in the film world, and even and honorary degree and two international awards. One award presented as honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire given in 2004. After the scandal was released in October 2017, it was made known that steps were being made to take this position from Weinstein (wiki). The second award was being made a knight from the French Legion of Honor in 2012, which is announced to also in the process of being taken away. Upon the release of the harassment and assault cases, Weinstein’s career has seemingly spiralled to a halt, losing years of work and respect of everyone in the film industry.

However have you put into consideration the people affected by the assault. The assaultants, in this case Harvey Weinstein, had the choice to attack these women, but the victims didn’t have the option to get attacked or not. In Harvey’s case he made a conscious decision to hurt these women. He made the choice to lure them into his hotel room. He decided to inappropriately use his power to his advantage in forcing many of these women into situations that they have no control of.

Sexual assault and harassment is not getting the attention it needs to stop the perpetrators. Too often cases are pushed under the rug, or victims get silenced in fear of either what others would say or at the risk of someone’s career being in jeopardy. But what many don’t realize is that the attacker put their jobs at risk the moment they thought it was okay to sexualy assault or harass another human being. Harvey Weinstein, James Toback, Brett Ratner and so many more have been brought into the light about their actions and some are being briefly penalized for what they did to other people. But is it enough to just give them a slap on the wrist? It is important to give women and victims the voice and encouragement they need in order to stand up to their attackers. Everyone would probably agree that the abuse of another human being should never be silenced or hushed up in a box, so why does it?

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Mon, 11 Dec 2017 21:36:35 +0000talking4goodhttps://afishonahill.com/go/fishy-thoughts/beauty/What makes the beauty of a move is the intention. Without intention a movement is only a set of muscles contraction, at times sloppy, without direction or reason. With an intention, it gains a purpose, a step toward a horizon. It becomes part of a system, suddenly bigger than the move itself.
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Mon, 11 Dec 2017 18:10:17 +0000Stacy Cashmorehttps://picturesinpassing.wordpress.com/go/uncategorized/streaks/
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Mon, 11 Dec 2017 17:57:11 +0000anamarinellahttps://dontwatchmedance.wordpress.com/go/uncategorized/finding-answers-through-movement/I remember saying to myself that this year should not end without me dancing again and tonight, the most wonderful thing happened.

What was supposed to be the weekly Sound Healing class turned out to be a Movement Meditation session!

My heart was beyond thrilled and my body was excited to move again.

The class started out the way it usually does: All the participants gather up in a circle, each participant will pick a card from the oracle deck and will share how the card resonates with them.

This was the card I picked out:

We were asked to set the cards aside so we can start with the actual movement meditation.

The session started with a call. A call to the Universe, to God or whatever Force or higher energy you wish to call out to. How your body moves is up to you. No one is judging you. Besides, everyone had their eyes closed. I felt very calm at first. Getting to my space, warming up my body by doing repetitive moves, getting into the groove of it all.

Next up, we were told to ask questions. Now this was when things got a bit frantic. I started losing it a bit, limbs flailing, body going up and down, jumping, running, turning. Our meditation teacher would change the music every now and then, and suprisingly, the body would adapt to the change in tempo. I was still moving even if all I could see was darkness. My fellow classmates and I were bumping into each other but we all still kept going anyway.

By the end of the class, we were asked, while still moving, to list down what we’re grateful for this year. This was when my body started to calm down and eventually stopped moving. I saw faces of the people who left. I also saw the faces of the people who came back into my life. Lastly, I saw the faces of the people who never left.

I was rooted to one spot, ground beneath my feet but with my head and heart in the sky, and in stillness, allowed this overwhelming sense of gratitude pour over me. Despite everything, the worries, anxieties, looming thoughts of putting an end to all of this…